


Die and Be Again

by relevant_elephant



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: BAMF Rose, F/M, Hopefully in character Martha, Humour, New take on old theme, Reunion, Romance, Season 3
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-20
Updated: 2013-08-24
Packaged: 2017-12-24 03:52:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/934989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/relevant_elephant/pseuds/relevant_elephant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Why does everyone insist on stealing my bloody body!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Laying the Groundwork

“I don’t often say this, but I’m sorry I killed your body, Rose.”  


|

  
  
“You’re just jealous, Rose. I mean, c’mon!”  
  
Rose quirked her right brow, giving Mickey her patented ‘I’m superior to all’ look, and crossed her arms. Mickey shifted uncomfortably under that gaze; a gaze that she’d had since she got stuck in this world, or, if he was _really_ honest, even before; the gaze of someone who’s seen more, done more, learned more than anyone combined on this single lonely rock. It was an old gaze, a wise gaze, a gaze Jackie’d said meant Rose was far from human any more.  
  
“I can’t believe you, Mickey. Out of everyone, I thought that _you’d_ believe me! I’m all for geniuses in the workplace, knowin’ things about aliens an’ helpin’ out an’ savin’ the day. The more, the merrier, I say even! But look at Tehrani’s credentials; she’s a first class nerd from Trinity, spent all her time in the lab (or so she says), but the first alien invasion that comes along, from a species some of our alien residents’ve never even heard of, and she suddenly knows how to stop ‘em? Just like that? Before recon, before first contact, and wham! She’s got an idea? Doesn’t that seem suspicious to you?”  
  
As she took a deep breath, trying to recover from her rant, Rose noticed the looks thrown her way. They’ve all got a slight bit of fear deep in their eyes, not something Rose’d ever been too fond of (or even understood), but around the edges, there’s amusement. She sighed and hung her head, her hair falling forward to cover her exasperation, and pinched the bridge of her nose.  
  
A warm, familiar hand cupped her shoulder, squeezing reassuringly as Mickey moved into her face and met her, forehead to forehead.  
  
“Babe, it was just a lucky guess, all right? You need to calm down, take a vacation, maybe some Valium. You’re cracking, yeah? Becoming paranoid… the Doctor wouldn’t want this for you.”  
  
Rose tensed, the words _you don’t know what he’d want!_ sticking in her throat, and she had to hold herself back from lashing out at Mickey. Unlike her, he’d never taken advanced martial arts and she didn’t want to break him. Tosh would never forgive her. Forcing her annoyance down, she relaxed her coiled muscles, released her frustration with a gusty sigh, and fixed her patented ‘I’m really all right’ look back onto her face.  
  
Nodding, she looked into Mickey’s eyes and smiled tiredly. “You’re right of course. Bit out of sorts, s’all.” She forced a deprecating laugh from her throat as she continued, “’N maybe I’m a little jealous. Never done well with sharing the spotlight, me. ‘Specially when it comes to the important men in my life.”  
  
Mickey smiled, kissed her square on the forehead and murmured, “That’s my girl.”  
  
She smiled back, chucked him on the shoulder, responded with a ‘See ya later” and watched the man who’d once been her best friend, lover, boyfriend, walk away. As he turned the corner, out of sight, her façade dropped. He’d never been the best at reading her expressions, but she’d thought he’d gotten better. She took a deep breath, performed an about-face, and marched down the hall in the opposite direction. She shouldn’t be surprised that they weren’t that close any more and truthfully, she wasn’t. He’d grown and changed, came into his own here at Pete’s Torchwood. She’d changed too. The Doctor’d seen to that. Now, they were not only worlds apart, but eons. She didn’t think they’d ever be in the same orbit again.  
  
Mickey’d learned things here, but still, he didn’t know enough. Not like Rose. And Rose knew that Tehrani Bhanjee was not the person she presented to the world.  


|

  
  
The readings were off the charts, whatever they were, and the scientists were abuzz like overexcited munchkins after the fall of the Wicked Witch. _Too bad only Mickey and mum’d understand that reference_ , Rose thought idly.  
  
She flipped through the report slowly, trying to understand why the energy signature seemed so familiar.  
  
“Could be ‘cause I saw it sometime on the TARDIS console screen. Could be I seen it in class. It’s just not comin’ to me.”  
  
“Don’t get your knickers in a twist about it. You and thirty other scientists declared it safe radiation. We should just ignore it for now, keep an eye out ‘course, wait till it surfaces, but if it’s not dangerous…”  
  
Rose didn’t even glance up at him as she spoke.  
  
“Just ‘cause it’s not dangerous in and of itself doesn’t mean it can’t be used as some sort o’ weapon, Mickey. You should know that.”  
  
A loud, put upon sigh echoed from the corner of her office, where Mickey sprawled exhaustedly.  
  
“You’re killin’ me, babe. I used to be the big man on campus here, yeah? Then you come along with your wise eyes and serious air and _wham!_ You’re the queen of the ball.”  
  
Rose smirked and tossed an amused glance Mickey’s way. “So sorry, mate. Didn’t realize _you_ wanted to be queen.”  
  
Mickey sent a glare her way and a badly mimicked facial expression before he launched himself from his chair.  
  
“Comin’ to lunch with me and Tosh today?”  
  
“I can’t. I’ve-”  
  
“Got work to do, I’m busy Mickey! The world can’t protect itself. It’ll explode if it doesn’t have Rose Tyler protectin’ it 24/7 because after all, it didn’t exist before I blessed this reality with my presence.”  
  
Silence fell after Mickey finished his diatribe and they stared at each other. Rose blinked, tucked a piece of unruly hair back behind her ear, and stood, grabbing her deep purple leather jacket as she did. As she stormed passed Mickey into the hallway, she sulked, “I do not sound like that.”  
  
“I do _not_ sound like that!”  
  
“Mickey, shut it!”  
  
“Mickey, shut it!”  
  
He couldn’t hold it in any longer, the breathy, ditzy voice he’d put on succumbing to his guffaws of laughter.  
  
Rose clenched her fists, growled and stomped down the hall, followed hauntingly by Mickey’s self-amusement. As she rounded the corner towards the lift, she shot over her shoulder, “The world must feel so safe with you on the job, yeah?”  


|

  
  
Shutters fell fast over Rose’s eyes when she and Mickey approached his and Tosh’s usual table at 1/2h Café. Tehrani smiled up at them, giving Rose the eye, and exclaimed, “Rose! Just the lass I wanted tae see.”  
  
Rose gritted her teeth into a smile. “Could we not talk shop, Tehrani? Only I just got an entirely childish lecture from Mickey an’ I don’t want to hear his impersonation of me again any time soon.”  
  
Mickey chuckled as Tosh shot him an amused glare and a slap to the arm. She then turned to Rose and beamed.  
  
“I’d apologize for my lesser half, Rose, but since you’ve known him longer, you know it’s not worth it.”  
  
Mickey shouted, “Oi!” as Rose barked out real laughter, immensely enjoying taking the mickey out of Mickey. Tehrani joined in, her tinkling laughter like fairy bells and her intense chocolate eyes sharp and quick. Rose supposed, well she _knew_ , that Tehrani Bhanjee was gorgeous, with her dark silky hair and her Indian features. And she knew that some at Torchwood thought she was jealous not over her quick thinking on the Ha’rah’lani invasion force, but because she was no longer the reigning beauty.  
  
It didn’t bother her, what they thought, really, because she was going to get out of this Doctor-forsaken reality as soon as she could find a way. There _had_ to be a way! She smiled at the waitress and ordered a Yorkshire Pudding and tea, then put aside her menu and looked across the table at Tosh and Tehrani. It was quite the effort to live in reality sometimes.  
  
Tehrani leaned forward, her raven hair glistening almost blue under the sun. “I didn’ want tae talk shop, Rose. I wanted tae ask ye how ye like this reality, compared tae the one ye came from.”  
  
Mickey failed to cover his wince and Tosh threw a “shhh!” Tehrani’s way. Rose sighed and leaned back in her chair, feeling the buttons on its squabs digging mercilessly into her back; much like Tehrani’s eyes were doing into Rose’s own. She couldn’t help but think the Irish woman was deliberately poking her bruises.  
  
Crossing her arms over her chest and quirking her eyebrow, Rose smirked. She was Rose Marion Tyler and if she didn’t take shite from the Oncoming Storm, she sure as hell wasn’t going to take any from a brownnosing wound-opener.  
  
“I hate it, actually. The chips suck, being made out of beets instead of potatoes, we’ve got a president instead of a Prime Minister, dollars instead of pounds, extravagant zeppelins circling the skies and blocking out the gorgeous sun, and J.K Rowling was either never born or never dreamed up Harry Potter.”  
  
She tsked sadly, enjoying immensely the flabbergasted looks on the faces of her audience, and sighed.  
  
“And tha’, well, _tha’_ is just the worst of the lot, tha’ is.”  
  
She shook her head slowly, her hair swishing into her face. She tossed a self-satisfied wink and smile to Tehrani and finally released her mirth. It bubbled out of her like water from an overenthusiastic teapot, her shoulders shaking with the force. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Mickey shaking his head in concerned amusement, too used to Rose’s complaints to even make comment. Tosh giggled uncertainly and Tehrani smiled tightly.  
  
Ever the scientist (and evil genius, Rose was sure of this), Tehrani had no doubt tried to unearth any strange feelings Rose might be having; like the fact that this universe was wrong: it felt wrong, it looked wrong, it _smelled_ wrong. She sometimes got dizzy and Rose was certain it was because this world spun slightly faster than her own. Mickey and her mum never complained, but to Rose, the differences were enormous. And sickening. She felt confined, though Rose knew that was just because she lacked a time and space machine, not any real fault of this world’s. If she hadn’t been certain there was a way back to her Doctor, she’d have stolen a space ship by now and gotten off this sedentary rock.  
  
She wasn’t going to divulge any of this to Tehrani however. And, Rose thought smugly as she observed Tehrani, that didn’t sit well with her colleague. Not the least bit. And if the rest of lunch was slightly strained, Rose didn’t care. Her mind, as usual, started to wander as she catalogued the newest pieces of alien technology Torchwood had acquired, running down the list to see which devices might be a good fit for busting through an invisible wall. Safely, of course. And Mickey, well, he was already older than her, already that much more removed from her than he’d been when he’d been the abandoned boyfriend. It wasn’t hard for him to focus on Tosh and even Tehrani, to an extent, content with his new life in Discworld.  
  
Blinking as the sun finally emerged, quite unexpectedly, out from behind a behemoth zeppelin, Rose brought her mind back to the present. She cast a fond eye onto Mickey, a slight smile spreading across her lips. She didn’t begrudge him this existence, this happiness, this sense of awareness and confidence he’d acquired. She was ecstatic for him. But he was different, they didn’t gel, not any more, and it made this lonely place just a bit more desolate. Sighing, she turned back to her food. If she was honest, they hadn’t gelled since she’d come back from those first few trips with the Doctor; and that was her fault.  
  
She let out a small laugh as Mickey’s voice, mature and wiser, echoed through her mind her first week here, after she’d tried to apologize.  
  
 _Hey, babe, you can’t help that he vwooped you off your feet._  
  
“A hundred for your thoughts.”  
  
Rose glanced up, blushing when she noticed the entire table staring at her, Tehrani with avarice gleaming in her eyes.  
  
Breathing deep, Rose answered Tosh’s sweet voice. “Nothin’ much. Just thought of somethin’ someone said to me sometime, s’all.”  
  
Mickey dropped his fork and dusted his hands off. “Yep! That clears it up for us.”  
  
Rose snorted and shoved him lightly.  
  
“Shut up!”  
  
“Shut up!”  
  
“Don’t you start that again!”  
  
“Don’t you start that again!”  
  
“Mickey!”  


|

  
  
Rose wrinkled her nose as they passed, yet again, through another sludgy patch of sewage. The odor wafted upwards as their boots stirred the stagnant mess of human waste around in the ankle deep water, stinging her eyes and tickling her gag reflex.  
  
“Another entire outfit I’m gonna have’ta toss when I get home.”  
  
Jake laughed and said, “I’d call you such a girl if I didn’t concur wholeheartedly. In any case, no one ever said this life was glamorous.”  
  
Laughing quietly, Rose rejoined, “I could take it when it was aliens’ guts, or slimy mud, or even bug juice, but the Doctor an’ I never once walked through a sewer. Quite the gent, ‘e was!”  
  
She winced. Bhanjee didn’t need to know about him. Sighing, she ignored that for now and paused to sweep her Electro-Magnifier out in front of her, from side to side. Not even a blip.  
  
“Either of you gettin’ any energy readin’s?”  
  
“Nada.”  
  
“None.”  
  
Rose growled inwardly, trying to keep herself from punching Tehrani on the nose. There was something in her voice, something that had been lacking the first half hour of their hunt, and it grated on Rose’s nerves. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, she continued forward, sweeping her torch back and forth carefully, thoroughly. Tehrani needed to be put on the backburner when there was Thraxin scuttling about London.  
  
“Jake, tell me. Why exactly is it that aliens like to take a tour of London sewers? It always seems to be their first stop and there isn’t even a little shop to make it worth the while.”  
  
A choked chuckle escaped from her Second as his beam swept upwards to the ceiling.  
  
“You sayin’ we should _set up_ a little shop for their pleasure and convenience, then?”  
  
“Well, least then I’d understand the draw. If’n it had good stuff on the shelves. Like jam. Or laser spanners. I like them. That cheeky Emily Pankhurst stole ours that one time.”  
  
There was nothing but the gentle sound of fecal infested waters lapping at their wellies following Rose’s words. She winced, biting her bottom lip in chagrin. She knew Tehrani had heard that she was from a parallel reality, but she hadn’t meant to allude to anything about the Doctor in front of the soon-to-be-revealed villainess; what really got her was saying anything in front of Jake, though. He was a good friend, the greatest even, to both her and Mickey, and she knew it pained him that she was still in pain, still thinking about _him_ even after four years.  
  
Finally, after Rose felt that she’d break under the weight of the silence, Jake spoke softly, compassionately.  
  
“You sound like him, you know? Sort of wise and serious and intense, but manic and scary at the same time. All with the knowledge of the stars echoing in your voice.”  
  
He quieted once more and the trio resumed their search of the squalid labyrinthine maze in the bowels of London in contemplative quiet.    
  
As they came to a trident in the sewers and decided that splitting up was a good idea, Jake whispered before they separated, “Must be killin’ you, forced to live in a place an’ time too small.”  
  
She fixed a confident smile on her face and looked at Jake. He was great, the Torchwood in this reality equally as great, and she was making them think she was ungrateful. Skimming her eyes passed Tehrani, Rose murmured, “Yeah, well, I may want to go back but stuck here with you an’ the rest… s’not so bad.”  
  
Jake smiled widely, understandingly, before he took off down the tunnel straight ahead. Tehrani pretended to gag before she took off to the left. Rose seriously considered getting her hands mucked just to nail the back of her silky head with shite. She shook her head, reminded herself that she was a Torchwood Director, _forced the echoes of another time she’d said those words down_ , and turned into her own channel. Before they all disappeared into the dark, she whispered, “Keep your radios to hand.”  


|

  
  
There’s nothing in the universe like hearing a Thraxin shriek. It gets into your bones, rattles your mind, severs your link to reality. The closest approximation to understanding it Rose could ever give someone, if they even asked, would be the word _banshee._ Her head jerked in the direction Jake had gone, south, and she took off like a shot. She yanked her radio out and yelled down the line, “Jake, Jake!”  
  
The radio crackled, clicked to dead space, crackled again. She growled.  
  
“Damn it!”  
  
Her legs pumped strongly, the muscles in her thighs and calves flexing, as she rounded corner after corner, following the inhuman shrieks and growls of the alien. She’d only lost one member of her team before and she had no intention of raising that number to two. As she approached Jake’s tunnel, the noises quieted down and she could see light ricocheting off the walls, casting eerie shadows on the fungus covered ceiling and glaring off the murky water. She slowed her approach, evened out her breathing, and tightened her grip on her stun gun.  
  
Creeping slowly around the rounded corner, her shoulder brushed the wet moss dangling from cracks in the concrete. A dank smell wafted passed her nose and Rose resisted the urge to wrinkle it. She was Torchwood, damn it, and former companion of the Doctor. No smelly moss would get the better of her; _least, not ‘til I’ve saved my team,_ flitted past her brain.  
  
“And any and all personal commentary will be struck from the record of this mission,” she muttered. Good thing Thraxins are deaf as door knobs. She stepped carefully, one foot crossing the other slowly, as her hands tightened on the handle of her gun. It didn’t bode well, this eerie silence. As she approached the last leg of her journey, she cocked her head, listening intently. Absolutely nothing.  
  
 _Well, actually, there aren’t any eatin’ sounds, so it can’t be all bad. Right?_  
  
Her boot sent a rock skidding across the ground and into the Thraxin's sight. Rose winced. Her hands brought her stun gun to bear as distorted echoes started emanating from the cavern ahead. She steeled her nerves, and her ears, and forwent any attempts at stealth. The creature knew she was there, might as well confront it now as later. She swung around into the open space, finger tense on the trigger, and came face to icky face with-  
  
“Oh, it’s you.” _Description still fits_ , she thought cattily.  
  
Tehrani lowered her own stun gun, face blanched like she’d smelled something bad. Rose dismissed her, however, eyes roving quickly through the room until they landed on Jake. Heart bloated with fear, Rose ran to him, falling onto her knees in the muck by his side, and frantically felt for a pulse.  
  
“He’s fine. Just out fer the count.”  
  
Rose gritted her teeth, but continued to feel for a pulse. “How about the Thraxin? Where’s it?”  
  
“’Bout seven meters leeward of ye.”  
  
Rose glanced over her left shoulder, taking in the oddly colored goo that splattered the walls and ceiling and puddled on the floor. This time, she allowed herself the luxury of wrinkling her nose.  
  
“Didn’t hold up to bein’ stunned, ‘m guessin’?”  
  
“An’ rightly so.”  
  
A sigh burst from Rose’s chest as she removed her pack and settled it underneath the, thankfully, unconscious Jake’s head before she stood and stretched. Pops echoed in the room as her vertebrae squeezed out the pressure, but Rose still heard when Tehrani started forward. Her senses were always tuned to that woman. Turning, Rose smiled when Tehrani stopped what Rose could only call her ‘creeper walk’.  
  
“Food for thought! Why, exactly, are there aliens out there smart enough to build spaceships that actually work, but still devolved enough to communicate in grunts and have a taste for human flesh, but the human race can’t even get people farther than the moon?”  
  
Tehrani laughed. It was genuine too, Rose was startled to realize. At least, it didn’t sound tinny and forced like the other times Rose’d heard it. _Laughter out of a can_ , Rose called it _, runny and sickly; not to be confused with canned laughter, of course. I hate canned laughter, havin’ been on the receivin’ end once too many when I was still the new It Girl and going on interview after soddin’ interview, fake laughter playin’ every time I uttered somethin’ even remotely funny._  
  
 _And_ , Rose thought vaguely, watching Tehrani with hawk eyes, _Jake is right. I do sound like him. I ramble. I wonder how long that’s been goin’ on._ Rose wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about this new revelation. She’d heard that dogs or owners started to look like one or the other after a time, but never aliens and their not-girlfriends. Or TARDIS’ and their alien’s not-girlfriend; her eyes fell from Tehrani, only briefly, to assess that yes, she was wearing TARDIS blue and yes, she might possibly resemble the TARDIS if one squinted and tilted their head to the left —  
  
“I heard ye don’ trust me, Rose.”


	2. Investigation, Thy Name is Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No matter the situation, Rose always does her job. A crash course in Rose Investigation Techniques. Or, How to Interrogate Villians and Look Flash Doing It.

Rose snapped her eyes up, cursing her lack of concentration when she noted how much closer Tehrani had gotten. Sighing, she shook out her limbs and stood tall.  
  
“Well, you are a villain, yeah? Come oooonnnnnn, you can tell me! Tie a lot of damsels to train tracks, twist your handlebar mustache about, do ya, Snidely?”  
  
She watched as a malevolent grin slid slowly across Tehrani’s face.   
  
“Oh, yes, that’s exactly what I am. Ye, how do ye humans put it? Oh! Ye hit the nail square on th’ head.”  
  
 _Humans?_ “Humans? You can’t be tellin’ me you’re not human. Torchwood woulda known. Also, ten points to me! An’ none to Mickey, that naysayer.”  
  
Tehrani leaned against the side of the tunnel, her eyebrow quirked condescendingly.   
  
“I’m from a superior race, Rose. If I want tae fool some overgrown simians intae thinkin’ I’m human, well, it’s not verra hard.” She raised her right hand and wiggled her fingers. A silver band glinted in the lowlight. “Bio-damper.”  
  
Rose felt her muscles tense and her nerves buzz with excitement.   
  
“You laid ‘im out, yeah?” Her head jerked Jake’s way and Tehrani cast one disdainful glance at his limp body. It was enough. Rose launched herself at the other woman, leg pulled up to execute a powerful front kick. The sound of shattering bone was satisfying. A broken sternum should keep her down.     
  
Only it didn’t. Not by half. Tehrani fell backward, a pained cry falling from her lips, but she used the momentum from Rose’s offensive to execute a fine back-roll, feet over head, to land expertly onto her feet. One arm was holding her chest as fire spit from her eyes.   
  
She smirked and drawled, “I should ha’e expected that.”   
  
Rose’s eyes narrowed, the only indication of her annoyance, as she stated calmly, “Quite right, too.”  
  
Tehrani took a step to the left, raising her available arm at a defensive angle. Rose moved with her, eyes jagged and icy. She moved her eyes all over Tehrani’s body, watching closely for any slight movement. She could tell her opponent was doing likewise, so Rose locked her joints, her bones. She didn’t know what type of alien this woman was, what her strengths were, except that she was quite a bit denser in the cartilage than a human.   
  
_Make it a bit difficult to defeat her, that._  
  
They circled each other in the cold, dark sewer, wariness so thick in the air, Rose thought she could choke on it. And she had to wonder why Tehrani, no doubt an alias, was after her. That’s what it seemed. Jake was laid out, the Thraxin all but annihilated, and now it’s just the two of them.   
  
Pete always said, _If it feels like a trap, looks like a trap, and smells like a trap, well then… your ass is **so** screwed._ Rose smirked, just the littlest bit, as she paced Tehrani. Well, when it’s true, it’s true.   
  
Quick as lightning, Tehrani launched herself at Rose, landing a devastating blow to the side of her head. Rose stumbled into the crumbling brick wall, temporarily incapacitated. Ringing zinged between her ears, bouncing off one side only to head toward the other, gaining momentum and volume with each pass. Stars seemed to dance in front of Rose’s eyes, but not the lovely little twirling about the head her favorite cartoons always showed it as. No… her stars were drunk. And disorderly. Rose wondered when the police would come to give them a ticket. Really, it couldn’t be all that safe, drunk and disorderly stars on the loose, now could it.   
  
Gravel grinding against concrete penetrated Rose’s daze and she blinked rapidly, trying to see the environment around her. The ringing in her ears abated and Rose could hear Tehrani’s breathing, light and unlabored, as she — Rose peeked from behind her mess of hair — pulled bindings from her pack.   
  
_If it smells like a trap…_  
  
Slowly, Rose raised herself from the cracked and pitted floor, jagged rocks making her wince as they poked harshly into her palms. She regained her footing slower than she was happy with, but Tehrani was now methodically wrapping the cords together, knotting them into sturdier restraints. Rose was simultaneously flattered and freaked out by these events, but she pushed those feelings aside as she launched herself at her opponent, a smooth rugby tackle that elicited a pained grunt from Tehrani.  
  
The cords flew across the sewer, landing with a squelchy plop in the corner of the chamber, but Rose didn’t notice. She gripped Tehrani’s wrists and head-butted her. There was a snap and a cry of pain, warm drops of blood landing on Rose’s face and neck. Tehrani bucked, but Rose held tight and jabbed her knee into Tehrani’s side. Air whooshed out of her opponent’s mouth and rose took the opportunity to rearrange her grip. Too late, she realized her mistake.   
  
Tehrani wasn’t winded, not by a longshot, but before Rose could recover, or even contemplate why she wasn’t out of breath, Tehrani gripped Rose’s middle and rolled them. She saw it coming out of the corner of her eye and her heart sped up. Struggling frantically, Rose attempted to free her arms to cushion her head, but they were held firm and tight. The last thing she saw before her head was smashed against the wall was Tehrani’s triumphant grin.   
  
_Oh hell._  


|

  
  
Clinking and clanging sounds penetrated the groggy fog that enveloped Rose like a hug from a loving relative. A loving relative who didn’t understand the concept of personal space and moderation, anyway. She snickered lightly at the thought, the sound barely audible. Tehrani heard her anyway.   
  
“So, ye’re up. Impressive. Most humans would still be unconscious about this time.”  
  
Rose grimaced as the Irish brogue rolled over her ears and burrowed into her brain, intensifying her already enthusiastic headache. Groaning, she asked, “Would you mind _not_ speakin’, please? My head’s ‘bout to go supernova. ‘Sides, you bad, me good. Don’t think we got a lot in common to build a mutually beneficial friendship on, yeah?”  
  
Tinkling laughter filled the room and Rose winced once more as it pierced her throbbing head.   
  
“Oh, my dear Rose. I do so adore ye — except’in all that absolute _gushin’_ about the Doctor, o’ course. It is too bad that this process will kill ye.”  
  
Rose froze, her breath sticking unpleasantly in the back of her throat, before she consciously relaxed her muscles, forced breath out of her lungs. Rule number two: Don’t Panic. This is, of course, if you break rule number one of Not Wandering Off. Well, Rose was fairly certain that this wandering off she was being accused of was not at all her fault and if she ever sees the Doctor again she will have to point this out.   
  
Shaking her head and bringing herself back to the peril at hand, Rose tested her restraints. Grunting, she leveraged all her weight, but all she managed to do was strain her wrists and rub them raw. Her back hit the wall behind her with a thump and her breath came in heavy rasps. Her headache increased in tempo and she squeezed her eyes shut at the pain.  
  
Tehrani clanked around out of her sight, but announced gleefully, “You won’t be able to get out of those restraints. It’s the most secure knot, and the easiest to unravel, in the universe. But you ha’e to know the seeeecreeet!”  
  
Rose wrinkled her nose at the singsong tone and said, “No, no, don’t, just, no don’t do that.”   
  
Tehrani laughed delightedly and Rose, giving up on ever getting the throbbing under control, opened her eyes to observe the maniac. Small, round suction cups rested in the palm of her hand with, Rose leaned closer and squinted, tiny little metal disks in the center of each. Tehrani glanced up from the buttons and levers she had been manipulating and smiled a Cheshire grin.  
  
“If ye wish to know what they do, ye jus’ ha’e tae ask.” She looked down to flick one more button before she sauntered over to Rose, her fingers caressing the edges of the cups. She picked one up, held it delicately around the body, and with her other hand viciously yanked Rose’s head to the side and pressed the cup to her temple.  
  
Through the intense pain that shot through her brain from the cup, Rose gritted, “You see, this is why I doubt our friendship. You say you love me, but then you electrofry my brain. Or are those electrowaves of love?” She couldn’t help it as her voice went down in pitch, making her sound like she did when she spoke baby talk to her little brother.   
  
Tehrani snorted in amusement and shifted to Rose’s other temple, securing the other cup there. Rose continued, “I mean, if it was Billy Marston from high school — all you had to say was that you like-liked him and I would’ve backed off!”  
  
“Is this really wha’ th’ Doctor sounds like now?”  
  
Rose frowned. “Is it slightly creepy that I accidentally sound like him now that we’ve separated?”   
  
Tehrani shrugged her shoulders and replied conspiratorially, “I’ve done worse fer a man.”  
  
Bobbing her head, Rose ‘hmmhmmed’ before re-engaging in conversation. “You know, you are the most pleasant Snidely Whiplash I’ve ever had the displeasure of trying to kill me. Also, what the hell do you mean, what the Doctor sounds like _now_?!”  
  
Smirking, Tehrani sent a glance Rose’s way before she turned back to her work.   
  
“Caught tha’ did ye? Knew ye would, smart thing like ya.”  
  
Mysterious sentence purveyed, Tehrani walked off into the darkness of the room, her body disappearing quite quickly. Rose pouted and glanced around. She paused, then glanced around a bit more. She looked into each and every little cranny she could find, examined the console in the middle like a germaphobe would a public loo, and her eyes widened in realization. To confirm, she closed her eyes, evened out her breathing, and attempted to blend into her surroundings. Minutes passed and sure enough, a telltale hum reverberated throughout the room. Wrinkling her brow, Rose tilted her head and listened harder. It shouldn’t have been hard to detect, not if it was at full strength, but Rose… yes, it was dying. Halfway into the grave already.  
  
Rose’s eyes snapped open accusingly as Tehrani re-entered the main room. Tehrani arched one beautifully manicured brow and asked, “Yea?”  
  
“You knew the Doctor. Which means that you don’t belong here, in this universe…” A genuine smile spread across Tehrani’s face and she turned to lean against the console, arms crossed and expectant — even slightly proud — look on her face.   
  
“… an’ that’s why your TARDIS is dyin’.”  
  
Tehrani clapped her hands, but Rose barely winced. The throbbing had gone down to a dull thud, anyway.   
  
“Oh, ye are a clever one! No doubt ye know why those readin’s had looked so familiar.”  
  
Rose nodded. “They were TARDIS radiation levels. It’s energy signature. But if you’ve been here ever since the Time War, at leas’ that’s what I’m assumin’, how come we didn’t detect you the first time ‘round?”  
  
A scowl appeared on Tehrani’s face, the first time Rose had ever really seen her discontent. “I’d ha’e been able to detect ye if my TARDIS had been more powerful and yours as well. I’d registered a powerful blip, but then it was gone. And again, a day later, another powerful blip, but gone again within seconds. Pop in, pop out, ye did.”  
  
Tehrani fell into an obviously unpleasant reverie, if the twitches of displeasure on her face were anything to go by. Rose hated to alert her to the matter at hand, so she attempted to unravel the knot. Unfortunately, it held tight. She slumped back, her breath and mind racing.   
  
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll get back tae where I belong an’ then I’ll steal the TARDIS, kill the Doctor too, if I can.”  
  
Rose’s head jerked up, eyes narrowed. She drawled out, “Soooo, what’s with the whole Evil Overlord of Time thing you’ve got goin’ on? Thought Time Lord’s, or ladies whatever, were s’posed to be all stuffy peepin’ Tom’s, strictly no interference.”  
  
“You expected the Doctor tae be the only rebel from our world?”   
  
Not for the first time, it resonated within Rose — and quite unpleasantly at that — that she knew so very little about the man who held her heart. It was near enough to shaking her faith in his love, but only just. She pictured him, standing there on that barren beach, face long and eyes bleeding sadness, hands stuffed in his pockets like a little boy. Her strong soldier, heart crying out for hers. Actions speak louder than words and pictures are worth a thousand of them and all those other clichés, and because of all that, even though he’d been cut off, even though the sun he’d killed for _her_ had run out at the wrong time — she’d known. He loves her.   
  
And it seemed she could get back to him. For a moment, for one blissful, carefree moment, Rose imagined overpowering Tehrani, jumping back to where she’d be able to reach him, being together again. A joyful smiled spread across her face, but then trembled lightly as reality set in. A death, hers or Tehrani’s, would be needed. And if she was the kind of woman to kill someone in cold blood to get back to her Doctor, then she wasn’t the woman the Doctor loves.   
  
It was a spectacular fall back to reality. Rose was surprised her heart even survived the crash. She bowed her head, hair falling into her face and sticking to the tears that leaked out. Voice muffled, she asked, “Who are you?”  
  
Tehrani snorted. “Ye’ll not know me even wit’ a name.”  
  
Rose’s head snapped up and for the first time since this battle started, she showed an emotion other than amusement, her eyes slits and a fierce Tyler glare beaming like a laser into Tehrani’s eyes. Blinking, Tehrani stepped back slightly, but regained her footing and laughed shakily, bravado firmly in place.


End file.
